All posts by Ron

I doubt you have been to Friona. Not many people have. Friona is located in the Texas panhandle, almost on the New Mexico border and about an hour south/southwest of Amarillo. You don’t pass through Friona to go anywhere, so if you find yourself in Friona, you are either lost or you want to be there. If you are lost in Friona, you will no doubt try to find your way out of there as fast as you can. If you want to be in Friona, you’ll probably change your mind not long after you get there. But, if you have a little patience, and a head-cold, you could learn to enjoy Friona. Well, enjoy might be a bit strong. I’ve been to Friona, and I’m going back this Christmas. Willingly. Sort of.

Until five years ago, Amarillo was as close to Friona as I had ever been. If you live in Dallas, as I do, and you like Santa Fe, you drive through Amarillo on your way to and from Santa Fe, at least when you are young and can’t afford to fly. If you drive through Amarillo, you will not find many reasons to stop, except it’s another four hours to Santa Fe if you are headed to Santa Fe and another six hours to Dallas if your are headed back to Dallas. I have spent a couple of nights in Amarillo, on purpose. I enjoy hunting and fishing, almost any kind of hunting or fishing. Some years ago a few of my hunting buddies invited me on a goose hunt based out of Amarillo. I grew up in south Louisiana and squandered part of my youth hunting ducks (and the rest on hunting other animals, fishing, playing sports and trying hard to impress young ladies), but I had never hunted geese (Louisiana is not in any geese fly-way). So, I jumped on the invitation. In retrospect, I do wish I had undertaken at least a modicum of research on geese hunting in the Texas panhandle. Continue reading Christmas in Friona, Texas→

I don’t hear anything. Listen. Quit breathing and listen. Nothing. Okay, breath. Wait a minute. I can’t tell if I am breathing or not breathing. I don’t feel my chest move. I don’t hear my breath. What? What is this? It’s totally black. Not a speck of light. I can’t see anything. Are my eyes open? Open my eyelids. Are they open? I don’t know; I can’t tell. What is wrong with me? I think I’m screaming, but I don’t hear any scream. I don’t even know if my mouth is open. Where are my hands? I don’t feel them. My feet? No. Lick your lips. Nothing. Did I? I didn’t feel my mouth open. I don’t feel any moisture. Grind my teeth. Nothing. No pressure. No nothing. Taste? No. Smell? Yes, can’t I smell something? Anything? Something? Not a thing.

What happened? Where am I? Where is everyone? Anyone? Is anyone there? Can you hear me? Am I even speaking? Please, hear me. Please, help me. Help me. Continue reading Dead or Alive→

Do you know your Inner Dummy? Do you know who or what an Inner Dummy is? I thought not. Let’s take a look.

I have an Inner Dummy, and you, and everyone for that matter, have an Inner Dummy. Mine is pride, or I should say false pride. Pride is a good thing. One should be proud of good personal attributes, such as integrity, self-discipline, work ethic and loyalty. False pride is really different. False pride is feeling others should honor you, appropriately (in your opinion) respect you, submit to you or even subordinate to you. If false pride is your Inner Dummy, and someone does not honor you, appropriately respect you, submit to you or subordinate to you, then you may experience a feeling of being dishonored or disrespected, which, in turn, may cause you to become defensive (withdrawn) or even aggressive. You may even lash out at the perceived perpetrator, feeling that person could not possibly care for you and disrespect you at the same time. There are many other Inner Dummies. Perhaps your Inner Dummy is based upon fear, either fear of rejection or fear of abandonment, or perhaps some other fear. Maybe your Inner Dummy is guilt or shame based. Only you know.

Are you a Democrat or a Republican? Do you support government regulation or are you a free market person? Does de-regulation promote the free market system or does de-regulation result in the need for government intervention? Do you care? I do, and whether you are a Democrat or Republican, you are currently a statistic of de-regulation. Want to know why?

A little history throws a spotlight on this issue. Remember Ronald Reagan? He was, and is remembered as, a great President. His theory of “trickle down” economics has been a Republican economic foundation. Did you know that his de-regulation/free market approach significantly contributed to, if not single-handedly caused, the Great Real Estate Crash of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s? That can’t be true, can it? Not Reaganomics! Well, it is true. Continue reading Politics, Banking and Greed→

The hardest thing about getting started is getting started. Whether you are picking up the pen to write, the brush to paint or the feet to jog, you must first just pick them up. Sounds easy, right? I have intended to create this website, and blog, for about a year. Well, now I have. So far I don’t have content, but I do have a way to create content so that it becomes accessible by others. That’s a start.

How many times have you started to start a project but couldn’t get started? Maybe you are trying to start too big? What if you just got SMART? When you set a goal (I will become fit), you can’t go from A to Z in under 6 seconds. It’s best to establish Action Steps to achieve your goal. Those Actions Steps should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound. What do I mean?

An Action Step should be specific, not general or vague (I will jog rather than I will exercise). An Action Step should be Measurable (I will jog 5 minutes when i jog rather than I will jog until I feel good about how long I’ve jogged). An Action Step should be Attainable (I need jogging shoes to jog and I can’t pay my rent, so I will need to save $5 a week until I can buy jogging shoes). An Action Step should be Realistic (if I have not jogged ever or not in 10 years, I should jog no more than 5 minutes when I start rather than think I can jog 30 minutes when I start because that’s what it will take for me to get fit). An Action Step should be Time Bound (I will jog twice a week when I start jogging rather than I will jog each Tuesday and Thursday at 8:00 am; rain, sick children or other matters may get in the way of a rigid schedule).

Well, you get the point. Thinking about doing and doing are two entirely different matters. Sometimes we try to get every aspect of a project laid out perfectly before we take any Action Step to get the project started. What happens? You never get started. So, stop starting to start and just get started. What are you waiting on?